Stop Motion Puppet Fabrication
Nikki Rice
Born and raised in Seattle, Nikki moved to California to attend college, receiving a BFA in Film Production in 2002 from Chapman University. For the next 6 years she worked various office jobs in the film industry while also earning a Masters Degree in Secondary Education. In 2006 Nikki decided to shift her career to Special Effects Make-Up working at Creature FX studios and from there segueing into the stop motion world, beginning in 2008 with Shadow Machine on the Adult Swim hit show, Robot Chicken: Season 3. Nikki has worked as a puppet fabricator, lead fabricator and department head on numbers stop motion television shows, commercials and films, helping create iconic stop motion characters for such shows/films as Happy Honda Days (Socal regional commercial campaign for the last 12 years), Ask the Story Bots, Buddy Thunderstruck, Anomolisa and Ted Lasso to name a few. In 2022, the next adventure brought Nikki back home to Seattle to be closer to family and to hang out her own shingle as Puppets Northwest, offering a one stop shop for puppets of all kinds, SFX, 3D modeling/printing and educational outreach of all of the above.
About the Course
Some materials included. The instructor will reach out to all registered students for any additional required materials.
Take your first steps into the world of stop motion in this class where you will design, armature and build-up a puppet capable of full stop motion animation. You will learn the use of different materials that go into the creation of puppets, including wire, foam, liquid latex, epoxy resin and acrylic paint, etc. We will also discuss the varying styles of puppets as seen in films and tv (IE: “Pinocchio,” “Wallace and Gromit,” “Ted Lasso Christmas Special,” and “Robot Chicken.”) and introduce the idea of more complex puppets builds for future 201 classes. (Animation not taught in this class. That for another time.)
Learning Outcomes:
- An overview of the history of stop motion
- How to breakdown a character design for build and animation needs
- Discuss different types of armatures and learn basic armature design and execution
- Build up a puppet out of foam, foam tape and latex
- Learn basic detail painting and finishing
- Learn how to add fur or flock to a puppet and to make it animation friendly
- Discuss approaches to costuming a puppet and learn basic costume armaturing for animation
- Learn to create and organize a "Puppet Bible" to document all parts of your puppet build
For the stop mo class, if you wanna get fancy, you can say "taught by Oscar and Annie nominated, 3 time Emmy Award winning for stop motion film and tv...." (https://nikkiricemalki.wixsite.com/artist/awards) If that is useful.
Related Art Classes
Creative Metalworking
Sarah Lavin
I am energized by the spirited exchange of expression and ideas. I am a metal worker, sculptor and installation artist. I have always worked with my hands; gardening, farming, fabricating. I took my first metal working class at Pratt Fine Art Center nearly 25 years ago and went on to get a certificate in Welding/Fabrication at South Seattle Community College specializing in non-ferrous metals and blacksmithing.
I have been a metalworker in various industrial and artistic capacities ever since: I ran public art programs in SE Seattle high school and middle schools, as well as worked alongside established artists and builders. I have recently returned to Pratt teaching forging and welding for adults, families and and teens. I also teach at Burkehead Art Center and Coyote Central. I maintain a shop/art practice on our family farm amongst the goats in Woodinville, Wa.
Along with demonstrations, students will receive individual instruction to help them develop their own creative voice. The course will cover the basic building blocks of what makes a work successful alongside the fundamentals of metalworking. Through multiple diverse demonstrations, students will be guided through making a small sculpture
Life & Still Life Drawing
J. Gordon
J. Gordon brings over two decades of experience as an artist, educator, and curator, to his classrooms. Gordon earned his BFA and MFA in painting from the University of Kansas and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts respectively. While his current professional practice centers primarily around the medium of drawing, he incorporates aspects of traditional and contemporary painterly practices in both his teaching methods and mixed media art works.
Gordon is a recipient of multiple scholarships and awards, as well an artist fellowship from the state of Delaware. He has taught drawing at many colleges, art centers, and museums including the Tacoma Art Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He is currently represented by Gallery Strega, where he also plays a supporting role in exhibition design and curation.
In our well-lit studio, delve into the art of human-form observation and interpretation with charcoal, pencils and brushes. Explore the beauty and diversity of the model's pose as an opportunity for self-expression and growth. This class fosters an atmosphere of creativity, camaraderie, and artistic exploration.Learning Outcomes: Basic
Explorations in Papermaking
Brad Taylor
Bradley Taylor is a Seattle based artist, and printmaker. He is currently working at Cornish College of the Arts as the Printmaking Studio Technician. Proficient in all forms of printmaking Bradley specializes in woodblock prints. His work has been shown in numerous galleries in the Seattle area. He has also work collaboratively with many notable Seattle Artists.
In the course students will dive into different processes and techniques for making paper. Beginning with recycled paper and ending with traditional Washi paper, this class will introduce students to multiple approaches to the ancient artform of papermaking. Cornish’s printmaking studio houses a rare Washi Papermaking tool - the only one in Seattle
Introduction to Patterns & Printmaking
Brad Taylor
Bradley Taylor is a Seattle based artist, and printmaker. He is currently working at Cornish College of the Arts as the Printmaking Studio Technician. Proficient in all forms of printmaking Bradley specializes in woodblock prints. His work has been shown in numerous galleries in the Seattle area. He has also work collaboratively with many notable Seattle Artists.
This course will introduce design strategies for creating patterns and then realize those patterns in a variety of print media. Printmaking methods covered in this course include linoleum relief, mono print, and screen print.Basic Printmaking TechniquesIntroduction to methods such as relief printing, intaglio, lithography, and screen printing
Public Art Career Development
Tory Franklin
Tory Franklin is a visual artist working with diverse media unified by pattern, print, and narrative. Since 2010, Franklin has focused on public installations inspired by folktales that are accompanied by screen-printed books, posters, and other ephemera. Her work has been exhibited at MAD Art, Bellevue City Hall, Storefronts Seattle, Storefronts Auburn, Spaceworks Tacoma, the Renton Arts Commission, Arts-A-Glow festival, Portland Winter Light Festival, the VERA Project, and 826 Seattle. She has received a Seattle Office of Arts & Culture City Artists project grant, a 4Culture project grant, and an Artist Trust GAP grant for these projects. In 2015, Franklin created her first permanent window piece with her sister, Eroyn Franklin, for Harborview Medical Center, and is currently working on SoundTransit’s Star Lake light rail station in Kent slated to open in 2024.
This lecture-style course is designed for people interested in transitioning to public art projects. We will cover how to expand your portfolio with temporary public works as well as assembling RFQ’s (Request for Qualifications) for permanent pieces. Discussions focus on applying for projects, what to expect when making it to a finalist
Comics and Graphic Memoir
Ellen Forney
Ellen Forney is the author of the bestselling graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me, and its companion book, Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life. Marbles has been translated into six foreign languages and was the selection for common book programs at the University of Washington Health Sciences schools and UC Davis. She curated an exhibition for the National Library of Medicine on Graphic Medicine, comics about health, and has given talks and lectures internationally at universities, conferences, and institutions, including a recent TED talk. As a visual artist, she created two large-scale murals for Seattle’s Capitol Hill light rail station. She has taught comics at Cornish College of the Arts since 2002 and is currently working on a middle-grade book on making autobiographical comics.
Your life is full of stories, from daily observations to epic adventures, and the visual literary medium of comics is a versatile, dynamic way to tell them. In this beginning/intermediate studio class, students will learn basic comics storytelling concepts and techniques, and craft several comics of different lengths to be collected in a final
Tintype and Ambrotype Photography
Winnie Westergard
Winifred Westergard is a Seattle based fine art and commercial photographer with degrees from the University of Washington and Cornish College of the Arts in Creative Writing, Journalism and Art. Her art making foundation is rooted in the early processes of photography, fully embracing the slow processes of 19th century photography. She is a visual creator with a strong base on human emotion and storytelling. She has managed the photography studio at Cornish College of the Arts since 1999 and has taught Photography and Portfolio Development through Summer@Cornish since 2003.
Learn the hands-on technique of making mysterious and alluring wet-plate images from scratch in this 6-week course. This process based class is designed to take the mystery out of collodion and provide students with a solid understanding of how the Wet Plate process works. Students will learn how to source and mix your own chemistry, and use this
Resin Figurine Creation
Nikki Rice
Born and raised in Seattle, Nikki moved to California to attend college, receiving a BFA in Film Production in 2002 from Chapman University. For the next 6 years she worked various office jobs in the film industry while also earning a Masters Degree in Secondary Education. In 2006 Nikki decided to shift her career to Special Effects Make-Up working at Creature FX studios and from there segueing into the stop motion world, beginning in 2008 with Shadow Machine on the Adult Swim hit show, Robot Chicken: Season 3. Nikki has worked as a puppet fabricator, lead fabricator and department head on numbers stop motion television shows, commercials and films, helping create iconic stop motion characters for such shows/films as Happy Honda Days (Socal regional commercial campaign for the last 12 years), Ask the Story Bots, Buddy Thunderstruck, Anomolisa and Ted Lasso to name a few. In 2022, the next adventure brought Nikki back home to Seattle to be closer to family and to hang out her own shingle as Puppets Northwest, offering a one stop shop for puppets of all kinds, SFX, 3D modeling/printing and educational outreach of all of the above.
Can’t find the perfect Funko Pop or statuette collectable? In this class, students will design, sculpt, mold and cast your very own resin figurine. Students will take an idea from clay sculpt to paint, while learning to make a silicone box mold and resin casting. By the final session, students will go home with a fully finished resin figurine
Hand Puppet Fabrication
Nikki Rice
Born and raised in Seattle, Nikki moved to California to attend college, receiving a BFA in Film Production in 2002 from Chapman University. For the next 6 years she worked various office jobs in the film industry while also earning a Masters Degree in Secondary Education. In 2006 Nikki decided to shift her career to Special Effects Make-Up working at Creature FX studios and from there segueing into the stop motion world, beginning in 2008 with Shadow Machine on the Adult Swim hit show, Robot Chicken: Season 3. Nikki has worked as a puppet fabricator, lead fabricator and department head on numbers stop motion television shows, commercials and films, helping create iconic stop motion characters for such shows/films as Happy Honda Days (Socal regional commercial campaign for the last 12 years), Ask the Story Bots, Buddy Thunderstruck, Anomolisa and Ted Lasso to name a few. In 2022, the next adventure brought Nikki back home to Seattle to be closer to family and to hang out her own shingle as Puppets Northwest, offering a one stop shop for puppets of all kinds, SFX, 3D modeling/printing and educational outreach of all of the above.
Can’t get more hands on than making your very own hand puppet. In this class you will design and fabricate a hand puppet character, building out of such materials as foam, felt and feathers to name a few. FUN! You will learn mouth plate design, the use of rods for arm/extremity movements and the famous “Muppet Hand Stitch” to sew up the seams of
Drawing with Pen & Ink
Maja Sereda
Maja Sereda is an environmental artist, teacher and coach. Born in Poland, Maja has dedicated her life to transcribing and sharing her experiences in nature. Working with pen, graphite, color pencils, charcoal and mixed media, her highly detailed drawings explore the myriad connections between human beings and the natural world. Her drawings have been shown throughout the US, Europe, and South Africa.
After studying graphic design at University of Pretoria and working as an art director in advertising agencies, both in South Africa and Ireland, Maja became an award-winning book illustrator. She has illustrated more than 20 books with many major publishers including Penguin Random House, Maskew Miller Longman, Oskar Editeur, Tafelberg & Lapa Publishers. Amongst others, she won the Crystal Kite award in 2011 and the Katrine Harries Award for best illustration for 2010. In 2012, she was also invited to illustrate a book with a French author, Yves Pinguilly titled La Grande Fleur (The Big Flower), followed by an invitation to Salon du Livre fair in Paris, France and La Reunion, where she showcased her books and led art workshops for children.
Now based in Seattle, Maja is a teaching artist and coach. With the outbreak of COVID, she began teaching drawing classes online. By investing deeply in her students’ work through highly individualized feedback, research and demonstrations, she nurtures an online community of over 250 artists.
With a deep passion for nature, drawing and community, Maja operates Guardians of the Jungle, a creative project which aims to save endangered wildlife and protect precarious ecosystems.
Yearning to pick up a pen and/or ballpoint pen, but have found yourself a little intimidated by the fact that it doesn’t erase? Then this is the course for you!Learn basic steps, demonstrate a variety of pen techniques and be encouraged to make your creative experience smoother. In this course, students will mainly learn how to draw with technical
Illustrator's Sketchbook
Maja Sereda
Maja Sereda is an environmental artist, teacher and coach. Born in Poland, Maja has dedicated her life to transcribing and sharing her experiences in nature. Working with pen, graphite, color pencils, charcoal and mixed media, her highly detailed drawings explore the myriad connections between human beings and the natural world. Her drawings have been shown throughout the US, Europe, and South Africa.
After studying graphic design at University of Pretoria and working as an art director in advertising agencies, both in South Africa and Ireland, Maja became an award-winning book illustrator. She has illustrated more than 20 books with many major publishers including Penguin Random House, Maskew Miller Longman, Oskar Editeur, Tafelberg & Lapa Publishers. Amongst others, she won the Crystal Kite award in 2011 and the Katrine Harries Award for best illustration for 2010. In 2012, she was also invited to illustrate a book with a French author, Yves Pinguilly titled La Grande Fleur (The Big Flower), followed by an invitation to Salon du Livre fair in Paris, France and La Reunion, where she showcased her books and led art workshops for children.
Now based in Seattle, Maja is a teaching artist and coach. With the outbreak of COVID, she began teaching drawing classes online. By investing deeply in her students’ work through highly individualized feedback, research and demonstrations, she nurtures an online community of over 250 artists.
With a deep passion for nature, drawing and community, Maja operates Guardians of the Jungle, a creative project which aims to save endangered wildlife and protect precarious ecosystems.
Sketching, illustrating and painting in a sketchbook is a wonderful way to open doors to your imagination, get to know yourself better and at the same time, release the stories hidden within you. It allows you to shake off any perfectionist ideals and create from the heart with a light hand and sprinkles of humor. In this course, students will
Creating with Clay
Lana Sundberg
After graduating from the University of Washington with a B.F.A. in painting, Lana moved to New York City to begin her career as an artist and a teacher. After 5 years of teaching and showing her work there, she returned to Seattle to resume her work and start her own studio school as well as exhibiting her own paintings, mosaics, sculptures and drawings.
She currently teaches private classes and for Arts Corps and Path with Art and creates and exhibits her visual art in painting, drawing, sculpture, clay, paper and multi-media.
Create with clay and learn about the many ways to explore either a new art medium or expand on previous skills! Through hand building, students will learn the three methods: pinch, coil and slab to create a variety offunctional and sculptural objects. For inspiration, students will learn about ceramics from a variety of African, Native
TouchDesigner: Live Visuals for Live Performances
Paul Lebel
From a young age, I've been captivated by light and its power to transform the world around me. At seven years old, I begged for a camera, eager to capture the magic of my small world through photography. This insatiable curiosity has fueled my journey as a visual storyteller, leading me across the globe to film and edit stories for brands worldwide. Through these experiences, I've grown as a person, and I remain just as curious and excited to explore new stories and mediums.
My artistic practice as A Box In The Sea extends into multimedia, print, and sound art. In my sound lab, I experiment with soundscapes and scores, translating them into visuals and rendering them into pen and ink. This process of creating and transforming sound into art is a continuous cycle of discovery, and it's a journey I feel lucky to be on.
In this introductory class, students will dive into the world of TouchDesigner, a powerful visual platform for creating stunning real-time projections and immersive experiences. Focusing on the application of TouchDesigner in live performances, students will learn the fundamentals of real-time video manipulation, 2 and 3D graphics and audio
Portfolio Development for UX, Graphic Design & Illustration
Robynne Raye
Robynne Raye is a co-founder of the Seattle-based Modern Dog Design Co, an internationally acclaimed design and illustration studio that opened in 1987. Her client list includes Showtime, The New York Times, Coca-Cola, Nordstrom, HarperCollins, Warner Bros. Records, Hillary Clinton, and K2 Snowboards. Her posters have been exhibited internationally, and are collected in the archives of major libraries and museums worldwide, including the Library of Congress, Bibliothèque National de France, Museum Fur Kunst und Gewerbe, the Smithsonian Institute’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, and the Louvre’s Musee Des Arts Decoratifs, among others.
For over thirty years, Raye has lectured extensively about design issues and led workshops around the world. In 2013, Graphic Design USA Magazine listed her as one of the "50 Most Influential Designers Working Today.” She is the co-author of Modern Dog, 20 Years of Poster Art and Inside the World of Board Graphics: Skate, Surf, Snow, and author of 1000 Dog Portraits.
Take your design skills beyond the computer, and design with faculty and peer review time built into a course that can help you grow passed your current portfolio. This course, led by a respected designer and professor, helps creatives refine their portfolios for job seeking or project improvement. The class meets bi-weekly over eight weeks, and
Wooden Box Design & Build
In this course, students will design and construct a small wooden box. This could be a desktop box, storage for game pieces, a lined valet box for watches & jewelry, storage for fountain pens & accessories, or simply an art piece.The boxes can be open, or have a hinged or sliding lid. The interior can be divided, and can be flocked with a
Lamp Design & Build
Design, build, and wire a sculptural, plug-in electrical lamp. Possibilities include table top or wall mounted lamps, and floor lamps, The lamps are made of wood, and can incorporate natural branches and log sections. These are traditional line-voltage lamps, so electrical cord, plugs, sockets, and switches are used, and class instruction includes